Illusion
by Sukaretto Yuki
Summary: I'm Nara Shikamaru, a jounin at 15 years old with an IQ of over 200. So it was strange when I wished that my intelligence was more expansive and included high school drama, dating and... how to put on a bra? What the hell is going on? full summary inside!
1. Training session gone wrong

**Ok, so this is my first fan-fiction. Ever. I don't currently have a beta so please excuse any errors I may have missed. I really hope you like it. Reviews are much appreciated, and not just those "THAT'S AWESOME UPDATE SOON" reviews. I like reviews that let me know what was liked as well as what could be improved. Any who, thanks for reading! **

**~Miyuki **

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><p><strong>Warning: Swearing, violence, bloodshed and spoilers (spoilers in Sakura's first POV)<strong>

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><p><em><strong>Bold Italics<strong>_ - Inner personalities. Like Sakura's inner self shown in the anime/manga. Like thoughts but slightly different.

_Italics - _The thoughts of the person who's POV it is. Or flash backs.

_'Italics surrounded by ( ' )' _- The thoughts of people in flash backs.

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><p><strong>Summary<strong>

I'm Nara Shikamaru, a jounin shinobi at 15 years old and I am (unfortunately) considered the most intelligent shinobi in Konoha with an IQ of over 200. It's unfortunate because the Hokage has realized this and sends me on a surplus amount of missions, which is troublesome.. I'd rather lay on my hill and gaze at the clouds all day letting my mind go relatively blank. So it was strange when, on my first day of highschool, I wished that my IQ and intelligence was more expansive and included high school drama, friendship, dating and... how to put on a bra? What the **hell** is going on! _Part AU and future pairings. Suggestive themes and possible future fluff. Rating may change._

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><p><strong>Shikamaru POV<strong>

"Nom..nom...nomnomnom...nom...nom..nom...SLUUUUUUUUUUURP!" _Kami, they're seriously getting on my nerves. _Shikamaru thought as he rested his head on his arms at a particular blonde's favourite food place; Ichiraku's Ramen stall. _I don't even want to be here, I was happily sleeping on my hill before this idiot decided to drag me along with them to eat lunch. _He thought, half heartedly glaring at Naruto. He wouldn't glare full out at him because that would be too much work and he already wasted precious energy and nap time to get here. Not that the blonde noticed his minimal efforts, he was to busy stuffing his face with ramen. _Is this even considered lunch anymore? _He questioned in his mind. After all, they had gotten here at around 2pm and had been there for what seemed like atleast an hour. _How can they eat this much without their stomaches bursting from too much pressure? There has to be a limit right? Just like a balloon would pop if you filled it with too much air or water. _He sighed again, closing his eyes.

"Another miso ramen please!" Naruto exclaimed happily holding out his bowl to the grinning shop keeper. Shikamaru jumped, startled by how loud Naruto's voice was and spilled his own, untouched, food onto his lap, which was soon followed by a string of muttered curses. The girl working there - _What was her name... Ayame? Or something like that - _handed shikamaru some napkins before serving Naruto another bowl.

"What was that, Naruto? Your twentieth bowl?" She giggled, before going to prepare another bowl for Choji as he held his own bowl out.

"Nope! It was my twenty-third! Believe it!" He yelled, shoving more food into his mouth. Ignorant to the boy beside him, who stopped cleaning up the spill to clutch his aching ears. _Even his voice is annoying and loud. _Shikamaru sighed, wincing as he wiped off more of the hot food that was burning his more vulnerable areas. _Choji has had, what, twenty-two bowls now, so combined that's forty-five bowls of ramen._

"Kami, you two eat to much..." He muttered under his breath, only to earn a booming laugh from Teuchi (the shop keeper).

"They're growing boys, let them eat! They need the extra food." He laughed, "Besides, they're my best customers!" Teuchi smiled, winking at Shikamaru, who just rolled his eyes, before going into the back part of the shop.

"Well, I'm gonna eat until I can eat no more!" Choji exclaimed, quickly finishing his bowl after overhearing Shikamaru.

"Ya! Believe it!" Naruto agreed, following Choji's example while Shikamaru just rolled his eyes.

"Troublesome.. besides, this is isn't an eating contest and we have to go now, remember? We're supposed to meet Sakura and Ino at the training field soon, Hokage's orders." Shikamaru explained rolling his eyes at them before giving Ayame the money for his food and standing up. _Troublesome.. why do we need to improve our teamwork if we never have to work together.. I catching up on valuable sleep instead of being stuck here. _Shikamaru sighed.

**_Flashback_**

_'KNOCK, KNOCK, KNOCK!' "Naruto, stop banging on the door, I'm sure she heard you the first seven times." Shikamaru grumbled. ' Why did the hokage want us here at this hour anyway?'_

_"Come in!" Tsunade yelled, only to be seen wiping drool off of her chin when they walked in._

_"Baa-chan! You were sleeping? That's not fair! You got to interupt us from training and sleeping and eating but you were just sleeping yourself!" Naruto yelled, pounding his fist on the table. _

_"Shut it Naruto, you're here because I have a mission for the five of you." She explained, while naruto looked slightly confused and excited._

_"Five of us? What mission! Who's going with us!" Naruto blabbered on before being stopped by Tsunade yelling at him again._

_"Naruto. You, Shikamaru, Choji, Ino, and Sakura need to work on your teamwork. Although your teamwork with Sakura is great, and the Ino-Shika-Cho team has great teamwork, you five haven't worked together very often and need to brush up incase I want to send you on an important mission together." She replied, with a large tick mark starting to form on her forehead._

_"That's not a real mission! Why do we have to? I want a real mission!" Naruto complained, pouting at nobody in particular. _

_"JUST DO IT NARUTO!" She screeched before shoving them all out of her office and slamming the door._

_"What a drag.." Shikamaru muttered._

**_Flashback over_**

"Troublesome women.." Shikamaru grumbled again, as he put his hands in his pockets and started walking to the training field with Choji and Naruto.

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><p><strong>Sakura POV<strong>

**(SPOILER ALERT; skip sakura's POV if you are haven't seen the first couple of deaths in Naruto Shippuuden)**

Sakura sighed looking at her best friend and ex-rival. She didn't know what to do to cheer her up when it came to team 10's old sensei. She just watched in silence with a hand on Ino's shoulder in comfort as she put flowers on Asuma's grave next to his old lighter while tears were running down her cheeks. _I feel so bad for her.. I don't know what I'd do if Kakashi Sensei or Naruto died.. or.. _She shook her head to stop thinking about her old teamate. _**Get a hold of yourself Sakura! This is no time to be thinking about Sasuke! He's gone remember? **__I know that.. I just can't help it sometimes.. __**I miss him, but we've got to be strong!**__I know.._

"Sakura, are you ok?" Ino asked her, while wiping any remaining tears away from her eyes.

"Y-ya.. just.. thinking that's all. C'mon, we've got to go meet up with Naruto, Choji and Shikamaru." She replied, smiling slightly as her friends face lit up a little bit at the mention of Shikamaru's name. _There has got to be something going on with those two and I'll be darned if I don't find out! __**CHYAA! Sakura; the match maker! I'll have them dating by the end of this week! **_She continued thinking of plans to push the two together as they walked towards the training fields.

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><p><strong>Naruto POV<strong>

"Neh! Neh! Hurry up, Shikamaru! Choji! We're gonna be late meeting Ino and Sakura-chaaaaan!" Naruto whined at them. _Sheesh, they're slow and I don't need Sakura hitting me again for being like Kakashi-sensei._

"Shut up Naruto, we'll make it on time." Shikamaru grumbled in response to the loud, energenic blonde. _Agh! That lazy ass is gonna make me late, seriously, does he do anything besides sleep! It's not fair that he gets more missions than me. I'm stronger! I mean he's smart, but he gives up way to easily and he never trains. NOT FAIR!_

"_Munch munch munch. _Look over.._munch munch..._there. It's sakura and Ino. _munch munch._" Choji said, between chips, pointing at the girls.

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><p><strong>Sakura POV<strong>

"Sakura-chan! Ino! Over here!" Naruto screamed, jumping up and down while waving his arms to get there attention, almost hitting Shikamaru in the process. Of course he just rolled his eyes and kept walking.

"Oi! Naruto! Careful, you almost hit Shika!" Ino scolded him.

"Shika?" Naruto mumbled, thinking for a moment before bursting into laughter.

"Since when do you call him Shika, Ino?" Sakura asked, a smirk playing across her features. _**They even have little pet names, this should be easy! **_ Ino started blushing but responded anyway.

"I don't know.. I think it started sometime during the Chuunin exam.." She mumbled, obviously embarrassed.

"The chuunin exam! Good times, good times." Naruto smiled, not noticing the extremely confused expressions his friends wore.

"How was that good times, Naruto?" Sakura asked/shrieked. For her, the chuunin exams meant the begginning of losing Sasuke. Which was definitely not, as naruto put it, "good times."

"I fought Gaara in the Chuunin exams remember? It's when our friendship and truce with Suna started!" Naruto grinned, oblivious to Sakura's thoughts.

"Well, yes, but that's also when we saw Orochiimaru..and..." Sakura looked away, viciously rubbing away the tears that threatened to fall from her eyes. _I will not cry infront of Naruto again, not about Sasuke!_

"Oh...right.." Naruto whispered, his grin fading for a moment before he yelled, "Well when I bring him back it won't matter any more, I mean sure, he'll probably still have a stick up his ass but I'll let you take care of that! Neh, Sakura-chan?" Naruto grinned, winking at her. _**I'm NOT pulling any sticks out of his ass! NARUTO! **__That would mean seeing him n..naked. _Sakura thought, turning bright red as they arrived at the field. Though she was quickly pulled from her thoughts of Sasuke's rear-end when a voice drifted along the wind.

"Hn.. Looks like you still don't know when to give up, dobe. I'm not coming back to this happy-go-lucky, ignorant hell hole. The only reason I'm here now is to dispose of you, I'm not going to be dragged down by insignificant parts of my past."

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><p><strong>Naruto POV<strong>

Naruto's head snapped up at the sound of Sasuke's voice, his eyes wide at the sight of his old rival and best friend. _Damn bastard! Choosing now to show up! What the hell... _He froze at the feel of something warm rolling down his cheek. He wiped it off to see water.

"You're crying?" Sasuke chuckled, "You really are weak.." He looked down on Naruto with a smirk.

"I'm not crying, teme! I just.. got some dust in my eye! Ya, that's it!" Naruto yelled, wiping the tears away. _What's happening to me? I'm Naruto Uzumaki of the village hidden in the leaves! I shouldn't be crying at the sight of an opponent.. __**But that oppenent is Sasuke, your friend, rival and brother who left you behind. **__Shut it Kyuubi! It shouldn't matter! _He looked over to see Ino, Choji and Shikamaru all in defensive stances while Sakura seemed to be frozen in place with shock. Her face contorted in a mix of pain, shock and sadness. "We can take you no problem, Sasuke!" Naruto threatened, pausing slightly before saying Sasuke's name. "It's five against one! We have the advantage! You don't even have a chance so why don't you just surrender so we don't have to hurt you!" He hoped that Sasuke would take his offer, but knew he wouldn't. _You can still come back.. baka.._

"I told you already. I'm not coming back here and who says you have the advantage? You think I honestly came alone? I found a better team, a team that actually is competent unlike you and Sakura." Sasuke said with a smirk as three figures appeared behind him, two boys and one girl.

"Teme!" Naruto screamed, running towards him with Rasengan only to freeze an inch away from his chest. "Why'd you leave me.." He whispered, looking up into the cold emotionless eyes of the boy he thought he had known so well.

"Because," He started to explain, not even flinching at the distance between them. "you are weak.. and I need to be strong.. to defeat him."

"We could have defeated him together, I could have helped you become strong.. WE could have helped you become strong.. you never had to leave." Naruto whispered in response. He looked at Sasuke, and for a moment, he thought he saw sadness, regret and hurt. But just as quickly as it appeared, his eyes returned to cold empty shells.

"That would have never happened." Sasuke chuckled. "The weak can't make anyone stronger if they can't get stronger themselves."

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><p><strong>Shikamaru POV<strong>

Shikamaru looked up at Sasuke, just barely catching the end of his sentence before chaos ensued. Sakura's shriek filled the air as Naruto fell to the ground after being run through by Sasuke's katana. From there, everything went by like it was a recorded video on fast forward. She ran over to heal him only to be stopped by Sasuke. The girl behind them jumped down to attack Ino. Choji tried to defend her only to be thrown several feet away by the larger of the two boys with Sasuke. Before I knew it I was in a taijutsu face off with the white haired boy. He had a massive sword and I only had a kunai. _So much for the advantage.. this fucking sucks. _He dodged another swipe from the blade only to be tripped by a kick to the back of the knees. _Crap... I'm down and will probably lose against this guy, Naruto is bleeding out behind Sasuke who is fighting Sakura. Sakura is no match for Sasuke and that girl and Ino are about tied, same with the other boy and Choji. If I don't win this, I can't help Sakura and then the other two will be outnumbered and we'll all probably die.. troublesome._

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><p>"Shikamaru, can you tell me what happened after that?" Tsunade asked, worry showing in her eyes.<p>

"I can't remember everything, it happened so fast, but I managed to get the white haired boy in the neck with my kunai and he disolved into a puddle of water on the ground. I ignored him and ran towards Sasuke and Sakura. I noticed Sasuke had activated sharingan so I avoided looking at his eyes as he mentioned some crap about darkness. I couldn't help but smirk as I remembered my conversation with Ino about the dark side having cookies and uh... yaoi. It kinda makes me wonder what Sasuke has been doing over there, on "the dark side." My eyes scanned the landscape around me and stopped at the puddle of my previous enemy. Sasuke's reflection was in the puddle. The lasts thing I remember... were his cold, red eyes.. then everything went black."

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><p><strong>Okey, Dokey so CnC or RnR please. I wouldn't request this except I'm not quite sure how I'm doing and I'd like to here honest opinions on how I did. Hopefully you liked it. Thanks for reading and I'll update again soon.<strong>

**~ Miyuki**


	2. School and chaos

**Ok this is the second chapter of illusion. Sorry for the long wait, but I hope you like it. **

***Note: I will refer to female Shikamaru as a he in all writing except for when people are talking or thinking about him in his POV's because in his own mind he is still male, therefore narration from his POV will be male. In any other POV's he will be referred to as female. Hopefully that won't be too confusing.***

**Thanks for reading**

**~ Miyuki**

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><p><strong>Shikamaru POV<strong>

Shikamaru was laying in bed when he slowly opened his eyes only to wince and quickly shut them again._Ugh, bright... why does my head hurt...? What a drag.. I wonder if I have any advil left.. _He blinked a couple of times, his eyes adjusting to the light, before he sat up. Eyes widening for minute. _Did I get injured on my last mission? What was my last mission again..? Why does my chest feel so heavy? _He wondered, getting out of bed, too lazy to look down; but as he went to pull on a pair of jeans laying on the floor beside his bed he paused. _I normally sleep in boxers... what...? _I looked down where his male parts usually were to see a pair of small, black striped, lacey panties with a cloud button on the side. _W-what am I wearing...? _He was staring down at the panties face turning bright red._ wait... where is... oh shit...? _ Now normally this is where the male character would scream in agony at the loss of his family jewels but this is our dear Shika we're talking about so instead he just groaned in emmense confusion and frustration while he finished putting on the form fitting jeans. _ Damn it these things feel too tight. Troublesome, girl's clothes. Why can't they where normal comfortable clothes? _

"Shika!" He heard a voice scream at him. "Hurry up and get dressed, we're going to be late for school!" He heard someone running towards him on what was probably stairs. _I recognize that voice.. _He thought for a minute trying to match a face to it but was interupted by a blonde girl bursting through the door. "Hurry up, Shika! How can you not be dressed yet?" She asked in a huff as she started throwing particles of clothes at him. "There, put those on and meet me down stairs in 5 minutes. We have to go!" She ordered storming out of the room. _Ino! Why is Ino in my house? Wait, how did she not notice I was a gi- _he paused in thought when he noticed that one of the items thrown at him was a bra. _Wait.. if she wants me to put that on.. she did notice which means.. ugh, what does that mean? What the hell is going on? _He put his arms through the straps of the bra and tried to do it up with no avail. _I don't get it... maybe I could ask Ino? But that would be weird... maybe I could just not wear it? No.. that would be weird too. Damn it.. _ He took it off and looked at it for a minute, his hands going into a familiar position indicating thought. Soon enough, he put the bra on without the straps, hooking the back together before twisting it around and pulling his arms through the straps. _and there is my proof. Women really are troublesome. Everything about them, their clothing, their make-up, their voices, their hair. _He face palmed. _This is such a drag. _He pulled on a t-shirt and hoodie, shifting uncomfortably for a minute to try and get used to the extra weight on his chest before he walked downstairs to meet Ino.

"So, how are we getting to school?" He asked innocently, looking at Ino. She looked dumbfounded, as if the answer should have been obvious. "What?"

"We're taking the bus, like we do every day. Like we've done every day since middle school. Seriously Shika, are you still have asleep or something? Wake up!" She said, lightly smacking his face as if she were trying to wake him up.

"Oh.. uh. Ya, oops." He mumbled. _What does she mean every day. What middle school? We're not civilians, we're shinobi! I'm confused; and I'm never confused! _He sighed, staying a step behind Ino all the way to the bus stop so he could follow her without her noticing. _I don't think I've ever put this much energy into my thoughts in my entire life.. _ "Um, Ino.. -chan? It's troublesome but, I think I uh.. hit my head or something but um.. what school do we go to? What classes am I in? What grade are we in and how old am I?" He blurted, curiousity getting to him. He immediately regret it because of the look she gave him. _Troublesome.. she's going to think I've gone nuts._

"Chan? You never say that, you really must have hit your head. Are you o.k?" She asked, poking him in the forehead. _Ok, definitely went to far with the -chan.. which means I probably am close friends with her here since I'm not adding anything to the end of her name. So I've learned one thing.. now I just need to keep talking to her and try not to look stupid._

"Ya, I'm fine Ino. Just tired and my brain isn't working, for once. Now could you answer the questions so I can go back to sleep before the bus stops?" Shikamaru grumbled, adding a "troublesome" under his breath.

She giggled, "Well that's more like the Shika I know. Ok, uhm, we're going to Konoha high and you're in several classes but you'll get a schedule when we get there because it's our first day back after summer. Uhm, what else." She muttered, "oh ya, we're in grade 10 and we're both 15, turning 16 in 22 and 23 days. Ya, happy? Gosh, I hope you didn't hit your head too hard or you're gonna start forgetting the important stuff like going to the mall with me to buy new clothes this weekend." She giggled. He stared at her in pure horror. _Me? Go to the mall? Walking around? Shopping? With Ino? I must be asleep still. _Ino looked confused again as she watched him pinch himself. _Damn it.. I'm not dreaming.. troublesome. _

"O-oh, I can't believe I could forget about that.." he replied, a little unsure of himself, "it's going to be so much fun." He giggled, much to his own distaste. Ino gave him a strange look but seemed to accept the answer. _Great to know I'm still lazy as a girl. I wonder if the giggle was too much... damn, this sucks. _Once the bus stopped, Shikamaru followed Ino towards a large building that reminded him of a civilian court house or a jail. As he scanned his surroundings, oddly enough, there was a civilian police station just down the street. _I don't know whether to feel safe, or frightened by that. _He though, chuckling slightly to himself before a thought occurred to him. _What if there are no shinobi in this world? What does that make everyone who used to live here? Maybe the hokage would be mayor but what about everyone else? _He sighed, this was way to troublesome for his liking.

"Um, hi. My name is Yamanaka Ino and this is Nara Shikamaru. We need to get our schedules and locker numbers so we can get to class, please." Ino explained to a boy in the office. He looked to be around 20 years old, with grey hair in a pony tail and a pair of circular glasses. Shikamaru froze. _N-no way.. he's dead..?_

"Sure, just a minute miss Yamanaka, miss Nara." He answered in a friendly tone before swiveling in his chair to flick through files in the desk drawer. "Ok, here they are," He handed two files with all of their needed information for the year to them. "have a great day." He smiled and then picked up the ringing phone. _Kami, this place is weird.. _

"Hey, Shika, I'll meet you in homeroom. O.k?" She stated more than she asked, Shika just nodded and started following the numbers on the lockers to the one that would be his. It took a little while but he managed to find it. After checking his schedule and dropping off all of the stuff he didn't think he'd need, he started to look for his classroom. _Man, this place looks smaller on the outside.. _He saw a boy looking through his locker. _Damn troublesome school.. _ he sighed and walked up to the boy.

"Um, hey. Do you know where room 110 is?" Shikamaru muttered, a little embarrassed he had to ask, while tapping on the boy's shoulder. He looked up and Shikamaru's eyes widened slightly. _Is everyone at this school someone I know? Troublesome.. _He almost growled outloud in annoyance, there was many things he was willing to put up with. But not understanding something? It was one thing he wasn't familiar with dealing with. He just sighed, looking up at his old, dog loving friend. _I wonder if he still knows who I am here? _

"Hey, babe!" Kiba smirked, "I'd be happy to escort you there if ya need." He added, sizing Shikamaru up. In response, Shikamaru felt like he was going to gag. He felt, confused, violated, disturbed and betrayed. _I.. He..ew...what?...Kami! This is so wrong... I mean.. I always knew Kiba was a bit of a girl lover but... seriously? _Kiba started laughing, shaking him from his thoughts. "You should have seen your face Shika! It was hilarious! Did you honestly think I forgot what you looked like or something? I mean your hot but, I like my girls a little more fiesty and you just don't have the energy I'm looking for." He said between bursts of laughter. Shikamaru growled at him, he should have known. _Hmm, I wonder if he still likes Hinata here..? _He smirked to himself.

"Ya, like Hinata-chan has that fiesty energy?" He smirked again at Kiba's shocked expression. _I think I just hit that nail on the head. Hm.. maybe this could be.. dare I say it.. fun? Nope.. having female hormones must be getting to me.. this is troublesome.. a drag.. remember that Shika._

"H-how did you...?" Kiba stuttered. Shikamaru just smiled innocently.

"Your secret's safe, too troublesome to tell anyway. But could you show me to my class before i'm late, please, Kiba?" He grumbled, checking his watch. Kiba pointed to the door down the hall labeled '110 - Asuma' and then walked into another classroom on which the door read '108 - Kurenai'. _Asuma...? Asuma-sensei.. is alive? _Shikamaru looked at the door in shock. _Damn it Shika.. don't cry.. don't start crying.. he's alive.. kami... this place.. it's like we're in another uniiverse. _Taking a breath he walked into the classroom and was quickly greeted with a smile and wave from his deceased sensei. _He looks exactly how I remember him.. _ Shikamaru's eyes started to water as he quickly rubbed any tears away before, lazily, waving back. _Life officially makes no sense... troublesome.. _but he couldn't help but smile at his old teacher as he sat beside Ino. _Maybe this isn't all bad.._

**_There, I hope you liked it :D New chapter should be up by the end of this weekend I hope. I'm trying to keep the chapters fairly short but I'll also try to update often. My dance recital is this weekend and then after that I will have a lot more free time._**


	3. Morning classes

**A/N: Sorry for the ridiculously long wait. I know I promised to get this in a while ago. But my brain suddenly had a mirror spurt. So I had a whole bunch of updates on that story. I'll get more of this story up now though. This chapter is extra long to help make up for it.**

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><p><strong>Recap: <strong>_Damn it Shika.. don't cry.. don't start crying.. he's alive.. kami... this place.. it's like we're in another uniiverse. _Taking a breath he walked into the classroom and was quickly greeted with a smile and wave from his deceased sensei. _He looks exactly how I remember him.. _ Shikamaru's eyes started to water as he quickly rubbed any tears away before, lazily, waving back. _Life officially makes no sense... troublesome.. _but he couldn't help but smile at his old teacher as he sat beside Ino. _Maybe this isn't all bad.._

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><p><strong>Shikamaru POV<strong>

The class started to fill up with assorted students, some were civilians Shikamaru had met before, some were ninja he had worked. One thing stayed the same about everyone he saw. He knew them before he became a girl.

"Hey, Choji! Over here!" Ino yelled, waving towards a slightly chubby boy. _Team ten.. is back together in room 110.. ironic. _Shikamaru thought, smiling to himself before looking up at the boy who smiled at them both and sat down.

"Same homeroom again this year? What's that 8 years of the same homeroom." Choji smiled, before eating a handful of chips and offering some to Ino and Shikamaru. They both declined though.

"Choji! You know I'm on a diet! Guys like skinnier girls! You know.. you'd probably be a hit with the girls if you lost some of your weight." She winked before walking over and talking to some girl.

"She has no clue does she? Despite what most women seem to believe, men don't always go for the skinny girls. Most guys I know, they like girls with a little meat on their bones. It just looks healthier. Oh yeah, and the reverse is true too, you know. I'd bet anything she'd be twice as popular if she put on a few pounds instead of starving herself. She should eat. But I guess that's why girls are so troublesome." Shikamaru said, smiling at his best friend. _I think we're still best friends here... I hope anyway.. _Choji smiled back.

"Thanks, Shika." Choji replied, before Ino sat back down as class began.

"So, this is going to be your homeroom for the rest of this year. I know most of you, and for those who I don't know. Hopefully I will get the chance to know you. You will start and end everyday in this classroom. You can spend time on homework and talk to friends here for the twenty minutes you have before first period and after last period. If you need any help with anything just ask. So.. ya.. do what you want. Just don't leave the classroom without telling me first." Asuma explained, he was a new teacher at the school and not very good with the whole "inspirational beginning of the year speech". Shikamaru, for once, didn't sleep during a teacher's speech. He listened, re-memorizing the sound of his old teachers voice. _It's weird.. to think I'm looking at my dead sensei.. and he's talking to me. _

After a while of everyone looking around the room for people they knew, with the exception of Shikamaru who kept looking at their teacher, people started to gather in small groups and talk. Ino, Choji, and Shikamaru just stayed where they were and went over each others schedules looking for who had classes together.

"So, what classes do you guys have first half?" Choji asked, digging through his back pack to find more food. Choji's eyes brightened as they shared their schedule and he smiled at Shikamaru.

"Awesome! We all have science together and some other classes." He said brightly. Shikamaru couldn't help but smile at how familiar all of this was despite all of the differences. Sure, he had breasts and it was like living through the zombie apocolypse with all the living dead people walking around but.. it was almost.. comforting?

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><p><strong>Asuma POV<strong>

Asuma was looking forward to seeing his top 3 students this morning.. it had felt like forever since they had annoyed him last spring, but when he saw one of them, he got a shiver down his spine. _Shika's eyes.. she looks so hurt.. it's almost as if she just watched someone die.. _He watched his lazy student rub tears out of her eyes and attempt a lazy wave and smile. _it's almost as if.. no.. _He shuddered involuntarily.. Shikamaru was looking at him, as if he had come back from the dead. _What could have possibly happened over the summer to cause the change? _He wondered, not taking as much time as he would have liked thinking about it as the bell rang and he did the attendance before giving his shpeel. The young teacher was going to go talk to her, slightly creeped out by the constant looks he was recieving. He decided against it though because she was soon in conversation with her friends. _I should mention this to the other teachers.. something definitely isn't right. _

Asuma looked at the retreating body of his Shikamaru when the bell rang, worry apparent on his face. If only he knew what was running through her mind..

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><p><strong>Shikamaru POV<strong>

Looking down at his schedule, Shikamaru sighed and turned back around. It said that the math course would be temporarily taught by Asuma in room 110 until the original teacher got back from leave. _I wonder who that's going to be? Oh, well, back to Asuma.. troublesome.. _In reality.. to Shikamaru, this was not troublesome.. just painful. It was hard for him to look at someone he treasured who'm he had thought he had lost. A constant look of fear glued to his face. Fear that he'd lose his sensei again, fear that their bond here was not as strong, fear that he'd screw up.

He sat down just as the bell rang and looked around the room. Seeing who else he recognized. He saw Hinata talking quietly with Shino in the back of the room while Matsuri was idly drawing while looking out the window. He saw other people he knew as well, but none of great interest until a familiar raven haired boy walked into the room. He suddenly felt anxious and he wasn't quite sure why, his knee was shaking a little bit and he looked away and pretended to be watching the clouds. _What is wrong with me.. he's the enemy.. I know that.. but it's not like he and I have ever got into a fight. I'd be dead if we had. _He reasoned logically to himself while Asuma did attendance. Yet, even with this, he couldn't help but feel more and more unnerved as each minute passed during math. He could feel the eyes baring into the back of his soul. After about 15 minutes of this he could take it no longer. _That's it, this is too troublesome, I'm just gonna look, and he won't be looking at me then I can relax. _But when he looked, much to his dismay, he was met with an emmotionless stare. Sasuke gave a small nod of acknowledgement before turning to face the board and scribble down some notes. _So.. he doesn't remember.. does that mean he isn't an enemy here? Agh.. fuck this.. _He put his head down on his arms and promptly attempted to fall asleep. Key word; attempted. Instead, he pretended to be asleep the entire class and listened to the blurred words of his sensei and fellow students saying who knows what. His nerves were just too much and it was confusing him a bit. This was the first time he had not been able to fall asleep within 7.4 seconds. Yes, he had counted. It was a record he was quite proud of. _Oh well.. bye bye record.. It's kind of surprising that it wasn't Ino who finally caused it to fall. _With that, the bell rang, pulling him from his thoughts and from the comfort of his desk.

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><p><strong>Second Period<strong>

Shikamaru blinked once before checking his schedule.. _Family studies.. combined with health? I wonder who the teacher is... oh well, I'll find out when I get there. _He murmered to himself and started walking to the portable outside. _It's stupid to only have one class seperate from the school.. they better have air conditioning. _

It took about five minutes to find the portable and go inside to find a small, sweaty room. _Of course.. no air conditioning.. troublesome. _He looked around for somewhere shady to sit when he saw a familiar ally sitting in the darkest, back, corner of the room.

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><p><strong>Gaara POV<strong>

A red-headed boy sat in the corner of the room. Alone as usual, he had an understanding with some people in this school, but only one he'd call a "friend". The blond never ceased to amaze him. _**Others, they are not worth trusting.. Gaara.. You have me, you only need me. I am your friend. The blond.. he will betray you.. eventually. They all do. **__Shut up. _Gaara groaned and clutched his head gingerly. _I finally got rid of you, I don't want you back. You are the reason I was alone.. you are no friend. You are an enemy. _

He pushed the voice dubbed Shukaku to the back of his brain and went to look forward but a large brown pineapple suddenly showed up in his peripheral vision. _Brown pineapple? _He looked up and saw, not a pineapple, but a pretty girl who had pineapple shaped hair moving towards him._Why is she coming over here? What does she want.. this is my corner. _His eyes widened in confusion when the girl nodded her head in acknowledgement before sitting beside him and resting her head on her arms.

_Maybe, this girl could be a friend? __**See? The blond boy is getting to you, he's getting you to become vulnerable. You'll get hurt again. She doesn't want to be your friend. She'll just run away like everyone else. She probably just doesn't realize who you are. **__I said.. Shut.. Up.. _He growled to himself.

* * *

><p><strong>Shikamaru POV<strong>

_Oh shit.. I forgot about that. _Shikamaru had been allies with Gaara so long that they had become close friends. He had almost completely forgotten about the troubled boy who tried to kill him during the chunin exams. _Is he alone here? What happened to Shukaku... ugh.. as long as he doesn't kill me. _Shikamaru sighed, for some reason, even realising this, he trusted Gaara. He felt safe beside him, Gaara seemed more sane now then he did then.._ I would have been dead already back then. _Deciding to trust the boy and his instincts here, he laid his head on his arms and waited for class to start.

"Hello, ladies! I am your sensei and I'll be teaching you family studies and health this year!" A white haired man giggled while Shikamaru's eyes widened. _Must..resist.. urge.. to..gag..ewwwwwww... _He looked at his teacher in horror, missing the small glimpse of confusion from Gaara as the teacher continued his speech.

"I am Jiraiya-sensei but you can call me Jiraiya-sama, ladies." He said with another perverted giggle. Many of the males around the room were glaring or blushing while the girls all wore similar looks of horror and disgust.

"Hell no, PERVERT!" A pink haired girl screamed from the front row. "Don't make me tell Tsunade-sama what you've been doing again!" Shikamaru couldn't help but smile at Sakura's normally troublesome violent behaviour. _So she still trains under Tsunade? _ He, among many others, also noticed the visible shudder the their sensei had at Sakura's words. _Well this is going to be an interesting class... Dear kami, I hope we don't have to watch any video's or anything.. _

"Ok.. ok, that's enough. Anyways, this year we are going to learn about family structures, parenting, marriages, and family problems such as how cheating can split up a family. Also, during our parenting unit, we are going to spend the week of march break in school with the other family studies classes taking care of babies. You'll get more details when the time comes." _Robotic babies for a week.. troublesome.. that's worse than troublesome, that's going to be hell. _"So, we won't do much today other than I want each of you to write a paragraph about yourselves. So I can get to know each of you better and learn about your strengths and weaknesses. Ok?"

Shikamaru muttered troublesome before pulling out two pieces of paper and pencil. He handed one to Gaara, missing another confused look. It wasn't his fault though, he wasn't used to being around the loner Gaara. _What should I write... damn this is troublesome..._

Troublesome introduction paragraph.

Dear Sensei,

My name is Shikamaru Nara, and I think this stupid letter thing is troublesome. I'm fifteen years old and turning sixteen soon. He paused not quite sure what to write about. _What if I'm different here? I'll just make it up... _I live with one of my to best friends, Ino Yamanaka, and I've known her for as long as I can remember. My other friend is Choji Akamichi, he eats a lot, but he's loyal, trustworthy and the best type of friends you could ask for. My personal hobbies are sleeping and watching the clouds, they seem so peaceful and free up there. No obligations, worries or responsibilites. They just get float around all day. I wish I could be a cloud, it would be less troublesome than being a student. There's nothing really else. So.. bye?

Shikamaru Nara

_Yup... that sucked.. Oh well, for 2 minutes it's good enough. _He looked over to Gaara to see him looking blankly at his paper which, coincidently, was also blank.

"Um.. you haven't written anything yet..?" Shikamaru mentally hit himself in the head for stating the obvious. Not that Gaara seemed to care either way, he just looked up with his face still blank, who woulda guessed it? "Do you know what to write?" He asked trying again to start conversion, not really knowing why.

"No.." Gaara replied quietly. _A short answer, but hey, it's a start. _

"It's troublesome.. but I just wrote down my hobbies. My two friends' names and my age. Short, simple and fills the qualifications." Shikamaru told him. While Gaara nodded and started writing, not noticing Shikamaru watching him.

My name is Subaku no Gaara and I live with my two siblings. I'm 15 years old. I don't have many hobbies.. Naruto Uzumaki is my friend. He stopped and Shikamaru thought he had just paused, but was shocked to see that he didn't continue on. _He only has one friend..? _He sighed then grabbed his pencil and reached over Gaara's paper erasing the last sentence and re-writing it.

Naruto Uzumaki and Shikamaru Nara are my friends.

"I'm a friend too.." He muttered quietly, not seeing Gaara's expression, before gathering his books as the bell rang and walking to his next class.

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><p><strong>Third period<strong>

Great, I have home ec next. Who's the teacher? Shikamaru walked in then froze, biting the inside of his cheek to help stop himself from bursting into laughter. There, standing infront of the class, was Kakashi-sensei wearing a pink apron with a plaid, frilled mask worn the usual way he always did to hide his face. _What.. the.. fuck...? _He couldn't take it anymore and started giggling, clutching his sides.

"Do you have something you would like to share, Shikamaru-chan?" He asked with a look of complete seriousness.

"N-no.. sorry." He replied, stiffling laughter as he walked over to sit beside Kiba at one of the three person counters. On Kiba's left side, Hinata was cleaning up some flour that another class had left. There was a counter with a sink on either side of us and it extended into the wall. There were several built in stoves in the walls.

"Thank god I'm not the only one to find that funny." Kiba whispered to him, biting his own cheek to stop from laughing.

"How can everyone not be laughing? That's so messed up, it's hilarious!" Shikamaru giggled back. _Wow.. that didn't sound like me...? Troublesome hormones. _

"Hey, is something wrong?" Kiba asked, frowning slightly.

"N-no... just.. thinking this class is troublesome.. I'd rather sleep." He replied with a small giggle before facing front when Kakashi started talking.

"Ok, this is home ec!" He started with a cheery smile, er, eye. "We're going to focus mainly on interior design, cleaning, sewing, food preservation, managing money and cooking. We'll cover cleaning through out the entire cooking unit after each lesson. For example, we'll be doing lots of dishes when it comes to the 3 course meals. This will be broken into 3 units. Managing money and interior design will be together, but we'll learn a bit about managing money with the other units as and house hold crafts will be another unit and our last unit will be Food preservation, cooking and cleaning." Some people looked very happy at the lessons planned while others including Shikamaru and Kiba groaned. Not looking forward to this course one bit. _Me? Cooking? Cleaning? Work? Troublesome..._

"Today we're going to make simple cupcakes from scratch. You will work with the people at your table. The ingrediants you need will be in the fridge and cupboards at the back of the classroom. You can use the computers over by my desk to look for a recipe, the cookbooks are under the counter to your left and if you know a recipe already then good for you. If you need anything, go bother each other because I'm reading." He finished then pulled out a bright orange book and started reading.

"So, um.. who here knows anything about cooking?" Kiba asked, looking dumbfounded. _He probably only sticks to meat.. troublesome.. I doubt he knows anything about cupcakes.._

"M-my family has cooks.. so I d-don't get to c-cook that much since I'm not t-technically allowed. I s-still sneak in the kitchen t-to help n-now and then though." Hinata replied. _That's what I thought.. what a drag._

"My mom was always nagging me about helping out around the house. She taught me some cooking and stuff. I used her lemonade cupcake recipe for Ino's birthday last year." Shikamaru blabbed before freezing up. _How did I know that...? Whatever... I'll figure this out later._

"G-great! What d-do we n-need?" Hinata asked, stumbling over her words.

"Uhm," He replied, thinking a moment before continueing. "First, can you go check the fridge for canned juices?" Shikamaru asked Hinata, who nodded and ran over to the fridge before yelling back.

"G-grape, c-citrus mix, lemonade and apple! They're all s-six ounces!" He smiled to myself before responding.

"Grab the lemonade can along with sour cream. We need eight ounces. We also need three ounces of cream cheese and three large eggs. Um.. and an additional eight ounces of cream cheese and a cup of sugar and one, eighth of a table spoon of salt , one table spoon of vanilla extract and uuhm, one cup of whipping cream. The heavy one." I listed out to her, pushing Kiba to go help her while Shikamaru rubbed his temples to remember the rest of the recipe. He wrote down what he listed so far under different categories so he wouldn't forget it. "Oh, and a box of cake mix that's eighteen and one quarter ounces. That's all I think!" Shikamaru smiled as they walked over, arms full of different ingredients. Completely covering the counter in bowls, mixers, ingredients and measuring utensils.

"How the hell can you remember all that?" Kiba asked, astounded.

"Good memory?" Shikamaru replied, Kiba just muttered 'smart ass' under his breath.

"Hey, it's better than having to look up a recipe. That would be a drag." Shikamaru grumbled back.

"W-what do we do n-now Shika-chan?" Hinata asked me.

"Well, let's start by preheating the oven. It needs to be set to 350." They continued making the batter, making a few mistakes here and there but for the most part doing a great job. Cleaning up as they went it was finally time to put the cupcakes in the oven.

"Yes, we're half way done." Shikamaru said with mock enthusiasum. _Being a girl hasn't changed thaaaat much.. _

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN HALF DONE?" Kiba screamed with his mouth wide open.

"W-we still have t-to make the icing and assemble them. R-right, Shika-chan?" Hinata asked and Shikamaru nodded in response.

"Can I do dishes? It seems easier." Kiba grumbled, earning two nods. So Kiba did the dishes while Shikamaru and Hinata prepared the cream cheese icing and put them together.

"W-we did it!" Hinata smiled and Shikamaru hugged her and Kiba joined in. Kiba blushed slightly when Shikamaru winked at him though. As soon as they let go, Shikamaru looked around the room to see other groups with icing on their faces, clothing covered in flour and all sorts of messes. The dishes weren't done and he had the odd feeling Kakashi would be stuck doing them. _ Poor guy. Maybe I should help? Nope. Too damn troublesome. _ It was then he smelt something burning.

"SHIIIIIIIIIT!" Temari screamed from the other side of them room pulling black cupcakes from the oven. They were literally smoking. _God she's pretty.. Wait.. does that make me gay right now? I never even thought of that...this is fucking troublesome. _

"Oh crap.. that didn't work out well... TEMARI! YOUR SHIRTS ON FIRE!" Sakura screamed at her before dumping the milk on her. Temari's scream was soon follow by a string of curses and the sound of her fist hitting Sakura's shoulder.

"What the hell was that for? USE WATER NEXT TIME!" She screeched.

"Sorry..." she muttered back.

"The good news, is you all did great, for the most part. The bad news, is you don't get to eat them! These are going towards the staff party tonight. So thanks for helping." Kakashi said, earning many angry yells of protest as he looked up from his book and as if on que, the bell rang.

"See you guys later then." Shikamaru, waved before sticking his hands in his pockets and walking off.

* * *

><p><strong>Fourth Period<strong>

Shikamaru earned quite a few stares when he walked into the classroom because he immediately scowled. _Orochimaru.. enemies are everywear here and nobody seems to notice but me... _ He sat down in the back of the classroom waiting for Choji and Ino to show up. He looked at the door and saw it open only to see a familiar raven haired boy walk through again. Their eyes met for a flicker of a second and he choked up. Red flashed through his vision. Red eyes. Pain filled his chest and he clutched his head. _Am I..? Did he..? No... This can't be happening... What does that mean about my fr- _He was cut off by the feeling of two arms wrap around him.

"Hey Shika! You're zoning out over here, you ok?" Ino asked before slipping into the seat next to him.

"Ya.." He smiled at her, being honest. _She is my friend.. no "what about".. troublesome yes.. un-trustworthy.. never. _He fell asleep in record time, happily, during that class while his friends took notes. The hissing of Orochimaru made him nauseous so he told them honestly he wasn't feeling good and they immediately understood. Taking notes for him and Ino even leant him her sweater to use as a pillow. They were _his _friends.

"And Tsunade..? All of my doubts were gone in that moment. I wasn't sure if it was a genjutsu at the time; but I knew that Ino would always be on my side. Even when she is troublesome and loud. She's on my side... always my side.." Shikamaru whispered. Tsunade nodded to him, smiling at the scene before her. _He really is recovering.. that girl has one hell of an impact on him..._

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><p><strong>AN; extra long chapter. I hope you can all forgive me for the long wait. I really had a lot of fun writing this. It may be a little confusing here and there for you guys. But trust me it will make sense in the end. I'll try to update again soon.**

**To those who want to eat the lemonade cupcakes. They do exist. **

**Recipe is here http: / www. food .com/ recipe/ lemonade- cupcakes -95878 (take out spaces)**

**P.S almost 4000 words. Quite proud of that. :D**

**~ Miyuki**


	4. Assemblies and school cliques

**A/N: I don't know why but I've been favouring my story "Mirror" and it's already at 8 chapters when I started this one first. I don't know why. I will try and work on this one a little bit more. I've been putting more words into these chapters though. Weird. Any who, I hope you enjoy this chapter.**

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><p><strong>*note* not the entire school went to this essembly. It was split into four quarters. Half the school went on one day, the other half the next. then half the half went during morning classes and half the half went during afternoon classes. <strong>

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><p><strong>Shikamaru POV<strong>

Shikamaru walked slowly to the cafeteria with Ino and Choji, pretending to rub the sleep from his eyes. He was honestly rubbing away tears.. Although he slept alot, what people didn't know, is that somewhere in between becoming a genin and waking up here, it turned from wanting to sleep.. to needing sleep because he wasn't getting enough sleep at night. His mind was plagued with dark thoughts and his sleep filled with nightmares. Sasuke leaving, Lee being beaten, Sakura and Ino crying, Asuma dying, Kurenai crying. He acted like it didn't faze him, like he hadn't changed, but in all reality.. it never left his mind. He didn't feel like himself anymore.. not that being a girl helped with that.

As he walked into the cafeteria he looked up in slight shock.._ I've read about high school cliques in books, but, I never expected them to be like this. _Everyone of different styles and origins and likes were grouped together, away from their opposites. It was almost scary. In _his _Konoha, everybody, no matter who you were, was an ally.. a friend. Here however, Kiba was sitting with a bunch of skaters including Gaara and Naruto. Gaara looked slightly uncomfortable, but seemed to be wherever Naruto was. Temari sat with a bunch of rebelious type girls and guys. _Is that... Tayuya? Ugh.. nevermind.. not thinking about her.. not..worth it.. _he stopped himself before his brain went on overload. Lee was sitting all alone, but he waved Shikamaru, Ino and Choji over. They walked over and Shikamaru kept scanning the room. Tenten and Sasuke were sitting with some jock type people while Hinata was sitting with.. Deidara..? ...and some other artsy looking kids. Neji was sitting with Suigetsu, Kabuto and some other kids. They almost looked like they could have been the student council.

"So, what do you guys think Tsunade-sama wants?" Sakura asked before sliding in beside Ino. _Thank god! They're friends here! _Shikamaru smiled to himself, mentally hugging himself, while Ino just shrugged.

"No clue, but can you check Shika? She seems out of it today and I'm afraid she hit her head." Ino asked looking at her friend with worry.

"Ya sure.." Sakura replied pulling out a small flash light from her purse and looking into Shikamaru's startled eyes. _She's a medic here? She's probably just taking medical science. Or something... Why does my brain feel dead... am I still half asleep? Or do female hormones honestly make you stupid? I hate this..._

"Other than confusion.. she's fine. Probably still half asleep that's all." She giggled. To try an prove her point, Shikamaru yawned and laid his head back down on his arms again. _Damn nightmares.. they're nothing but troublesome.. like I wanted to see all of that the first time... Never mind a second time.. a fifth time.. a tenth time.. _Tears welled up in his eyes again as he remembered those last words Asuma told him.. the look in Kurenai's eyes when he told her..

"So.. why are there so many cliques..? I don't get it.. why can't everybody just be friends with everybody.. or something like that.." Shikamaru mumbled that last part to himself.

"Are you insane? People are just.. too different. That would be like Temari and you being friends. Or Naruto and Sasuke being friends. It's impossible. Never going to happen." Ino laughed. _Really? Because I remember it happening... _

He zoned out for a few more minutes before the bell finally decided to ring. He didn't want to be in there.. required to pay attention.. required to make conversation. This was too much to think about without silence. It's like everything.. didn't exist.. _was that a dream? Or is this..? _He sighed and started walking to the gym. Once they were all seated Tsunade-sama made her way to the front of the gym.

"High school graduation!" she paused looking over the crowd. "It's like pushing swimmers off a diving board... and hopefully," She boomed "if you've paid enough attention in your classes and you've learned enough, you as swimmers will be ready for the leap. I, along with all of your teachers are apart of the goal in preparing you to leap and swim. To help you through your high school troubles and prepare you for the world outside. Whether you are older and getting ready to make the leap this year, or whether that leap is four years away, it is our job to help you. During these years, you will find friends, enemies, hardships and treasured moments. You will remember this for the rest of your lives. You will be prepared for your future lives. These years preparing for the first dive, will be memorable to everyone. Whether you become Olympic swimmers or just splash around in the local pool of life. We are here for you and you will succeed in your goals!" Tsunade finished, followed soon by the roar of applause coming from the students.

Once the cheering died down she brought the mic to her lips again. "Now, we have a couple of games set up to let everyone get to know each other. Even if you have a clique, try and break down those walls today and make new friends." She explained with a smile, underlined with pure evil. Everyone in the room groaned."To start, I want you to line up alphabetically by first name. You aren't allowed to talk."

It took a while, some people used their bodies to look like the letter while other people used finger spelling and sign language. Some people were even lip reading. A couple of us used the numbers instead. For example "B" would be "2". We finally finished and Tsunade passed us making us all state our names. Shikamaru only heard some of the names but others shocked him to no end. _Why... are all of these people alive still?_

"Ok!" Tsunade clapped her hands together. "You will be in groups of ten which I will announce." She smiled while some of us groaned. "Group one! Ayama, Choji, Deidara, Dosu, Gaara, Haku, Hana, Hidan, Hinata and Idate! Go meet on the stage! Group two! Ino, Itachi, Jirobo, Jugo, Kankuro, Karashi, Karin, Kiba, Kidomaru and Killer Bee! You guys go to the area infront of the gym supply closet. Group three! Kimimaru, Kin, Konan, Matsuri, Naruto, Neji, Rock Lee, Sai, Sakon and Sakura! Go under the basket ball net on the south end of the gym. Group four! It's a little bit uneven so there will be one extra in this group. Sasori, Sasuke, Shiho, Shikamaru, Shino, Suigetsu, Tayuya, Temari, Tenten, Ukon, and Zaku. Go to the bleachers!" Shikamaru walked over to the bleachers and watched as people who'm he knew as allies and companions complain at the sight of each other. _It's so.. odd.. _He thought as he watched Tayuya and Temari high five each other while Sasuke and Suigetsu looked at each other with identical looks of disgust.

"Troublesome... why do we have to do this again?" Shikamaru muttered once he was with his group.

"Shut up bitch. Who cares, let's just get it fucking over with so I'm not stuck with you guys all day." Tayuya rolled her eyes and began talking with Temari. Shiho looked at Shikamaru with an apologetic glance. _I don't get it.. we're all so seperated here.. troublesome girls.. Temari killed Tayuya already.. now they're best friends?_

"First I want you all to say something you'd guess about each person. Like a hobby or skill. Once you're done all this you can all do self introductions." Tsunade yelled. _Troublesome woman..._

"I'll start... Sasuke's a jack ass, Shiho is smart, Shikamaru is lazy, Shino likes bugs, Suigetsu is on the swim team, Tayuya plays flute, Temari swears alot, Tenten hangs out with the jocks, Ukon has a twin, Zaku is weird. Good enough?" Sasori muttered.

"Hn.. Pass." The anti-social bastard of the group said.

"U-uhm.. Sasori likes art... Sasuke has top marks in his classes, Shikamaru has a high IQ, Shino skipped a grade in science, Suigetsu joined the marine biology camp, Tayuya helps teach the younger music classes, Temari likes cooking, Tenten used to be friends with Neji, Ukon is excelling in physical education, Zaku used to be in the school band. " Shiho finished, leaving several people glaring while others had dropped jaws. "Since I'm in the student council I learn a lot about everyone.." She mumbled.

"Uh.. does it have to be realistic?" Shikamaru muttered while some people rolled their eyes and others nodded, not really giving a crap. "Whatever.. troublesome assignments." _Maybe.. I could see their reactions to how things used to be? _"If we all lived as ninja... the-"

"We're not fucking ninja?" Temari interupted.

"Shut up, troublesome woman. Let me finish. Sasori would fight with puppets and join a group of missing nin called Akatsuki. Sasuke would betray his village and his teammate and best friend Naruto to kill his brother. Shiho would be extremely smart and help decode a secret message revealing info about the Akatsuki. I would have an IQ of over 200 and be a male and be known as the number one ninja at running away through my beginner years. Shino would fight with bugs that lived off his chakra. Suigetsu would be able to turn into water and join a team called Hebi with Sasuke, Juugo and Karin. Tayuya would fight with a flute using genjutsu and would die when she's younger because I was losing in a fight against her and Temari came to save my sorry ass and killed her." Many jaws dropped at this but Shikamaru kept going. "Temari would become a top advisor for her village because her brother became their leader. She uses a giant fan to fight. Tenten would be a weapons mistress and would be on a team with Neji and Rock Lee. Ukon and his twin Sakon would die from a puppet Temari's brother uses when they try and kill Kiba. Zaku would get his arms broken by Sasuke when he tried to kill Sasuke. Zaku would die later because his master betrayed him." Shikamaru finished leaving everyone in shock, contemplation or thinking Shikamaru had lost his mind.

"Are you nuts?" Temari asked.

"No, you all are." Shikamaru replied as if it was the simplest thing in the world. _How can they be so separate here.. it's insane_

"You just said I killed my best friend and Sasuke and Naruto being friends? I'm pretty sure you're nuts." She scoffed.

"Actually.. it's not all that impossible.. I could imagine it.. Sasuke and Naruto are opposites. They'd be more of rivals at first or something like that. Then slowly form a bond of friendship. I can't imagine Naruto-kun letting Sasuke leave though... so he chased him after... if this was hypothetically real.. that would happen. Right?" Shiho turned to face Shikamaru who nodded with a slight grin.

"But... then hypothetically.. why were you a guy?" Sasori asked, gaining interest in the conversation. The others looked at him in slight confusion.

"I don't know.. but I am. I'd be on a team with Choji and Ino. There can't be two girls on one team.. so I'm a guy." He replied.

"What are all of the teams then? Do you know them all..? hypothetically?" Temari piped in, Ukon, Zaku and Tayuya seemed to dislike the conversation after they were told what would have happened. Sasuke was watching in silence.

"I don't know all of them.. but.. hypothetically.. I could tell you the teams of Konoha and one team in Suna. The akatsuki members and Team Hebi which later turned into Team Taka." Shikamaru said. He didn't want to lose their trust.. but he couldn't just say no.

"Yes, please.." Shino said.

"Ok, well there are the rookie 9 in konoha along with one team which is a year older. In team 7 there is Sasuke, Naruto and Sakura under the lead of Kakashi. They later get Sai to replace Sasuke when he leaves and get a new sensei. Yamato. Tsunade starts training Sakura and Tsunade is the 5th Hokage. Naruto trains under Jiraiya and Sasuke goes to train under Orochimaru. In team 8 there is Shino, Kiba and Hinata under the lead of Kurenai. In team 9 is the team that's a year older. It consists of Tenten, Neji and Lee who are under the lead of Gai. Team 10 consists of myself, Choji and Ino and we were taught by Asuma. Then in Suna there's Temari, Gaara and Kankuro under the lead of Baki. Then there's team Hebi. Team Hebi is Sasuke, Juugo, Suigetsu and Karin. Sasuke leads and brings the group together after he kills Orochimaru. The Akatsuki is a group of missing ninja's from different villages and they are trying to take over the world in a sense. Akatsuki consists of Sasori, Itatchi, Kisame, Zetsu, Pein, Konan, Deidara, Tobi, Hidan, Kakazu, there may be more but I hypothetically forget. A lot of those people would be hypothetically dead by now though."

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><p><strong>WARNING! THE FOLLOWING SECTION IN BETWEEN THE LINES ARE SPOILERS! IF YOU ARE NOT COMPLETELY CAUGHT UP, DO NOT READ!<strong>

"Who's dead?" Sasuke asked. _He only cares about the dead?_

"Orochimaru, Jiraiya, Asuma, Sasori, Itatchi, Pein, Konan, Deidara, Hidan, Kakazu. I think anyway." Shikamaru said. A little unsure of himself. _I'm starting to forget everything... _

"So I managed to kill my brother?" He smirked

"Yes, but you have people trying to kill you now too. A lot of people actually." Shikamaru said, and Sasuke's smirk dropped.

**SPOILERS ARE DONE! :D**

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><p>"But, let's say this bullshit was real. How did you become a girl and get here?" Tayuya smirked.<p>

"Well, hypothetically. I have no clue." Shikamaru muttered.

"Well.. could it be a genjutsu? A dream? You could be in a coma?" Shiho started suggesting things.

"Well, it's not real." _I think... _"But if it was any of those could be a possibility. "Anyway, my turns over. Shino? It's your turn." Shino was about to start when Tsunade's voice boomed through the room.

"Ok! That's enough time for everyone! We're starting a new game now! Get in two equal lines!" She yelled. "No, not your group. Everyone needs to be in two equal lines!" They all looked at each other before complying. Everyone obviously still in thought about Shikamaru's revelation.

"Start walking, when you get to the end of your line, join the other line and walk the other way. We're walking clockwise!" Tsunade yelled as they started moving. Soon she yelled stop. Everyone stopped and faced their partners in the opposite line. "High five your partner!" Everyone high fived and it echoed like one loud slap through out the gym. Soon they were all walking again. They kept stopping and going. Doing things like fist bumps, saying their favourite hobbies, hugging etc. "Ok, STOP! I want you to face your partner and wink and point at them. While you point I want you to say 'hey baby'." She grinned, before laughing as everyone did it. Ukon and Sakon got each other. Deidara and Kisame made odd faces as they had to. Choji and Ayame blushed. The funniest thing Shikamaru saw though was when Sasuke and Itatchi did it. _They look ridiculous. _They each wore a look that was half way between a wink, a look of constipation, a look of glee and a look of disgust. Anyone who saw them burst out laughing.

They spent the rest of the assembly playing stupid games like this, duck duck goose, the animal game, simon says, tag and beauty and the beast. They were stupid games and they all felt like children, but they started teaming up with more than their friends to win some of the games. They were literally.. breaking down the walls. The lines between the cliques temporarily vanished. Tsunade grinned at her success.

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><p><strong>AN: Mmk, so I've got another chapter up for this. Sorry for such the long wait. I hope you enjoyed it. Btw, this fan-fiction will be give or take 31 chapters long. I've got them all planned out but I may add or take away some stuff. Hopefully I'll update again soon!**


	5. Gossip and plays

**A/N: Sorry for the long wait AGAIN. I just seem to be addicted to writing my other story (which is probably a good thing considering it's going to be LONG lol XD it's a trilogy.) but I am trying to update this one. It's just slower because I never feel like working on it.**

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><p><strong>Review shout out:<strong>

**CrazyCreator33: **YAAAY! First review! *singing* 'I feel pretty, oh so pretty, I feel pretty, and witty, and GAAAAAAY!' lol. I literally started singing this when I got your review :D So merci! Arigato! Thanks! Muchos gracias! lol :D

**Ur awesome: **Unlike my norm reviews I couldn't pm you my thanks as well as the shout out but I really appreciate the praise. Thanks to you I remember that I still needed to work on this chapter so it's out now and I hope you enjoy it :D

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><p><strong>Disclaimer! I do not own the songs from wicked nor do I own wicked itself. Elphaba and Glinda (unfortunately) do not belong to me!<strong>

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><p><strong>Shikamaru POV<strong>

Shikamaru woke up before groaning and clutching his head. He was a girl again. _I guess that means I was dreaming again.. or am I dreaming now. _Sitting up he looked at his reflection on the mirror on his dresser. His eye lashes were longer.. fuller. He was still skinny but in place of his six pack abs he now had toned lines. His legs were long and muscled. Breasts ready to pop out of his tank top. Everytime he woke up, or started dreaming, he was never really sure, he'd go through the same shock of his reflection. It was odd, all so familiar.. yet so alien.

He pulled his messy hair into a familiar, yet more droopy, pineapple pony tail before throwing on a pair of jeans and a sweatshirt. Shikamaru glanced at the mirror one last time then walked down the stairs, greeted by the sight of his blond roommate cooking breakfast. Bacon and eggs.

"Mornin'." He greeted with a yawn before putting down coffee. He knew it stunted growth but he was already tall enough.

"Good morning? It's already noon!" She rolled her eyes before setting food onto two plates and handing him one. "Lazy ass." She muttered under her breath. It was at home that Shikamaru slowly got used to seeing her without make up or pampering. Her hair wasn't perfected and some of it was losely hanging out of her pony tail while her normal bangs were pulled back. She looked really pretty like this. Not that he'd mention anything.

"So, do you know why the school is out?" She asked after munching on bacon.

"Ya, they're fixing the heating." He sighed. "Apparently it needed to be fixed last year or something but since it was already spring they ignored it." He mumbled.

"Oh, ya I remember hearing about that. So- Oh. One second." She was interupted by the vibrations of her phone. PIcking it up she started texting.

"What is it?" Shikamaru asked, nonchalantly.

"Oh.. my..god. According to Choji there is a massive rumour spreading around about Temari and Tayuya! They got into a massive fight and now Temari is talking to the jocks and hanging out with them while Tayuya is hanging with the musical people!" She squealed. _Ino sure loves her gossip.. troublesome girls. _He sighed, rolling his eyes before cleaning up the table and putting the dishes into the dish washer.

Ignoring Ino and her furious texting he went to his room to gather is stuff for school. _If you're going to give us the four morning classes off, why would you make us come in for the last two? Troublesome school. _He thought throwing himself onto his bed to stare at the ceiling after his stuff was in a pile near the door. _What's happening to me... _His mind drifted into over drive as his fading memories ran through his mind in a jumbled collage.

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><p><strong>An hour of thought later!<strong>

He walked in silence along side Ino through the crowded halls of the school. She seemed to notice he felt off but seemed to know better than mention it. Normally she would have health right now but most of the school was in the gym with Gai for the afternoon because of the play preparations. He disliked afternoons with a passion. Gai was too energetic and he forced his 'youthfullness' upon his students. He exerted himself too much for his tastes in gym as it was, never mind with that lunatic of a teacher.

"HELLO YOUTHFUL STUDENTS!" The green, bowl cutted teacher yelled with a smile. "Today we're going to work on our singing skills! We are getting ready in advanced for our christmas play which happens to be wicked so we need to get working on who will play who!" He winked, teeth blinding half the class. Most of them groaned. "Alright, get into lines. You'll all come up to me and sing a small scale. Based on your scale I will choose who will play who!"

Shikamaru sat next to Ino and Choji, all of whom had completed their scales. Shika, thoroughly scarred because of Gai's blinding reaction to his voice. He winced as the teachers voice boomed through the room yet agaiin.

"Alright! I've chosen Glinda and Elphaba. The rest of you will have to find out who you are on the lists tomorrow. Because we have taken so long, we will only practice two songs today. Those being Popular and Defying Gravity. Can Shikamaru and Temari please come up?" He grinned, while Temari and Shikamaru groaned before making their way onstage.

"Despite your unyouthful personality, Shikamaru, you have a very sweet voice which I find good for Glinda. You're voice is more youthful than hers, more sweet and pure but no one else seemed to fit. Temari, you have a lovely alto singers voice. It's powerful and I think you were best to play Elphaba. If you don't know the lyrics, grab a sheet off of my desk and get ready to sing." They each grabbed one before looking in slight horror at each other. _He's making us sing infront of everyone? Seriously? Troublesome lunatic..._

Shikamaru scowled at his feet as the music for Popular came on.

"This is so embarrassing." He grumbled before taking a breath and starting the talking part with Temari.

"Elphie, now that we're friends, I've decided to make you my new project!" Shikamaru started with a false, happy, preppy tone that made several people stiffle laughter. Temari just rolled her eyes before responding.

"You really don't have to do that." She replied, sounding dreadful. Shikamaru smirked.

"I know! That's what makes me so nice." Shika grinned slightly before scowling and getting ready to sing. He rolled his eyes, letting his voice drift over the room. His lazy attitude lacing each word.

"PUT SOME HEART INTO IT!" Gai yelled. _Heart..? Ugh.. fine. _He continued.

"POPULAR!" Shikamaru put on a fake smile. "You're gonna be popular! I'll teach you the propper ploys, when you talk to boys, little ways to flirt and flounce, ooh!" He sang, flicking his imaginary skirt and kicking his leg back at the 'ooh', earning a smirk from Temari, a wink from Gai and laughter from the rest of the class.

"I'll show you what shoes to wear! How to fix your hair! Everything that really counts to be..." he flicked his hair in time with the music. The pineapple shape bouncing a few times. As the song ran on the laught increased. Shikamaru did everything from pretending to hit baseballs to hooking arms with Temari.

"Don't be offended by my frank analysis," He smirked at Temari, looking her up and down as she sand. ".. now that I've chosen to become a pal a sister and advisor.. there's nobody wiser! Not when it comes to... Popular!" He smiled, holding out a fake measuring tape and measuring her shoulder width as if to find the right clothing sizes.

"..to be who you'll be, instead of dreary who you were! uh.. are. There's nothing that can stop you, from becoming popul'er'.. lar" Shikamaru grinned singing out to the class as he continued 'la-ing'. Sure he was lazy, but he had to admit this was kind of fun, and Gai asked for heart, right?

"When I see depressing creatures, with unprepossessing features..." He sang, letting out an uncharacteristic giggle when he saw Naruto getting confused as hell at all of the long words.

"..Or specially great communicators! Did they have brains or knowledge?" He rolled his eyes at this line. "Don't make me laugh!" _Like they got in on pure popularity.. god my character is such a ditz. _He thought as he finished the lines before the next spoken part.

"Why, miss Elphaba, look at you! You're beautiful!" He grinned, winking at Temari.

"Uh.. I.. I have to go." Temari bit out between fits of laughter. Somehow managing to sound disinterested or disgusting. It was hard to tell. Shikamaru continued to sing until he found himself belting out the last note and earning humorous applause from his classmates. He soon gained a bored look as Gai praised him and he scowled. _I wasn't lazy for once.. scary.. troublesome..ugh.._

"On to the next song! Temari, are you ready?" Gai beamed.

"Y-ya.." She deadpanned. Not looking forward to singing by the looks of it.

The soft yet powerful sound of her voice soon left the room in awe. Her voice left shivers running up his spine as she sang the last note before the chorus. Shikamaru watched her as she closed her eyes, lost in the song. His jaw was slightly a jar. _She's beautiful.._ He was in such shock that he almost missed his lines.

"Can't I make you understand? You're having delusions of grandeur." Shikamaru sang softly.. softer than he meant to but he was distracted. Her voice came back stronger this time and he subconsciously grabbed his arm in a failed attempt to shake the chills. She managed to switch from such a soft sweet voice to a voice full of power in seconds so flawlessly. She sang from her heart.. as if she was really Elphaba.

"Glinda.." She spoke, turning to face Shikamaru who just looked back, his mind not quite working. "Come with me.. Think of what we could do.. together." She said, and her emotions backed up her words. As if she was actually asking him to leave with her. She quickly picked back up into song.

"If we work in tandem.." He sang to her, picking up his own character. "There's no fight we cannot win." They both grinned slightly at each other before belting the chorus. The volume raising and the power of their voices combined leaving the room in a state of shock.

"Just you and I.. Defying gravity! With you and I.. Defying gravity!" They sang harmoniously. He let her finish off before looking at her in wonder.

"Well? Are you coming?" She asked, and if his role wasn't different, he probably would have said yes.

"I hope you're happy.. Now that you're choosing this." He sang softly.

"You too.." She started before breaking back into song. "I hope it brings you bliss." Shikamaru smiled at her, joining in. They were both smiling, singing more so to each other than their classmates.

"I really hope you get it.. And you don't live to regret it! I hope you're happy in the end! I hope you're happy.. my friend.." They started in cresendo before softening out. Shikamaru watched as she took a deep breath and prepared to sing. And sing she did.. with all of her heart. Letting her voice gain volume and echoing well past the gym. No one would be surprised if Tsunade could hear her voice up in her office. So filled with power, emmotion. Shikamaru felt his breath caught in his throat. _God.. she's beautiful.. _Was the only thought running through his head. His long abandoned paper on the floor by his feet as he joined her in song.

"I HOPE YOU'RE HAPPY!" He sang, matching her emmotion much to his own surprise. Gai Gestured towards the class as they joined in without hesitation as the citizens of Oz.

"Look at her, she's wicked! Get her!" Their voices chorused.

"BRING ME DOWN!" Temari belted out, her voice easily overpowering the rest of the class.

"No one mourns the wicked! So we've got to bring her.." They sang along with her.

"Aaaah!" She sang, eyes closed, her head tilted back with the effort of the power of that single note.

"Dooown!" They chorused and the music shut off. Leaving most of the class smiling and out of breath. Temari and I both did little bows before sitting down with our friends. Not before grinning towards each other and passing a fist bump.

"Holy shit Shika.. I never knew you had a voice like that. Temari too! Look I've got goose pimples!" Ino gushed, shoving her arm in Shikamaru's face. He just smirked lazily.

"And you were really funny during your main song." Choji added in with a smile.

"Thanks guys." He smiled before some of the students were dismissed. Most grade ten's had gym with Gai last period so not all that many people left.

"Well that was a great show of youth! Hopefully that will remain through out our wonderful lesson in the art of self training!" He grinned as everyone groaned. He had them get into small groups and go through different stations ranging from suicides and push ups to bench steps and wall sitting. For the rest of the day everyone was whispering to each other about the play and odd gossip. Apparently Temari and Tayuya weren't the only ones who were getting out of their social norm. Tenten and Neji had been seen talking to each other recently too. Some people questioned their relationship while others were just in shock. Not many people knew they used to be friends.

Shikamaru silently wondered if this was because of the assemblies and what he told them. But from what he could see it definitely wasn't hurting anything. Other than Tayuya who tried to kill him anyway.

After gym he rushed through his shower, trying to avoid seeing Ino or Temari. Although he was unsure which reality was indeed reality, he still knew he liked girls and was therefore trying to avoid seeing them naked in the locker rooms. He waited once he was done infront of the school.

"Hey! Ugh.. I officially hate gym class" Ino moaned, sitting beside him. They were soon joined by Choji, and much to their shock, Temari.

"Hey, great performance today. I think the play will be fun." She grinned, waving before taking off with her friends.

"Since when are you two friends?" Ino asked.

"I dunno.. since now I guess." He smiled half heartedly at her. _Since she saved my sorry ass and I beat her in the chunin exams.. _He thought.. of course he wouldn't say that aloud. His story was hypothetical after all, and Ino hadn't heard it yet.

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><p><strong>Sasuke POV<strong>

Sasuke looked over at the oblivious girl sitting there. Soon, she'd forget everything.. she'd be trapped here. In this world of make believe. It only took three months. It's been two days. But they've passed by in a matter of seconds. He watched as Shikamaru chatted with her friends on the steps infront of the school before waving good bye and leaving with Ino.

_All too soon.. and you'll be dead to them.. You'll be dead.. and I'll have broken another bond for him. _Sasuke clutched his head at the memory of the blond boy in question. A broken bond that he could never leave behind. If he couldn't break the bond.. he'd break the blond in it's place...

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><p><strong>AN: Ooooh O.o What will happen? Will Shikamaru remember? What is Sasuke up to. How are they reacting.. on the outside? MWAHAHAHA. Ok, so it's been a while so I felt like writing something extra juicy for y'all to enjoy to make up for it :D**


	6. A day at the mall

**A/N: I'm trying desperately not to put this on hiatus but it's just kind of boring for me to write compared to my other stories right now. The idea itself is good and I know the ending but writer's block is making it hard to reach. I apologize for the wait to any, if any, who are reading still.**

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><p><strong>Shikamaru POV<strong>

"Hurry up you lazy bum! I want to get to Garage before it closes!" Ino shouted at Shikamaru. If anyone could make shopping an official sport, it was her. He was completely worn out and had somehow been talked into carrying everyone's bags. Temari had ended up joining them for some reason. Seems like she was drifting from her usual gang. But Shikamaru was definitely glad she came because unlike Ino she helped carry everything. Shikamaru had also invited Hinata to come. He was trying to get his old friends back into their dysfunctional group and so far the girls seemed more willing. He couldn't get a hold of Tenten though.

"S-shika-chan. D-don't you want to buy anything?" Hinata asked. She had bought a new sweater and that was about it and despite her maids and butlers at home she helped carry things too. Only princess Ino as bag free yet she had bought the most.

"No, thanks. Shopping is troublesome. It's more Ino's thing than my own." He explained. Temari snorted.

"I figured you weren't girly, Nara." Temari grinned. _Damn it.. she's still the saaaaame._

"Ok ok! I got it. The perfect jeans!" Ino grinned running back to them and plopping yet another bag into Shikamaru's arms. "W-want to go t-to the food c-court?" Hinata asked, probably noticing how much Shikamaru was straining to hold everything.

"Yes." Shikamaru said, trudging his way over to a seat before dropping all of the bags beside the table. "Ow..."

"Oh stop whining they weren't that heavy." Ino rolled her eyes.

"You weren't the one carrying them.." He grumbled.

"Ok, I'm going to pick up a couple of pizzas. Anybody want anything else?" Temari asked, looking at Shikamaru and Hinata.

"Can I get a-" Ino started.

"No.. no you can't. You've been running around leaving us with your bags for hours. Get it yourself." Temari shot at her before returning her gaze to Shikamaru and Hinata.

"Cinnabun?" Shikamaru asked handing her a five. Hinata nodded before handing her another one.

"T-thank you Temari-chan." Hinata smiled.

"No problem. I'll be right back." She grinned before leaving. _She has a really nice walk... troublesome girls._

"That bitch! What the hell was that for! She offered to carry my bags!" Ino growled.

"Correction. She offered to help me after I ran into a wall." Shikamaru mumbled, laying his head down on his arms.

"Same difference!" She bit out. _She's definitely more self-centered here.. _

"Stop bitching would you?" Temari growled, setting the food on the table before giving everyone their change. Ino just sulked picking at a slice of Shikamaru's pizza, much to Temari's dislike. _They are rivals here too? I don't get it._

"So did you tell _Ino _your story yet?" Temari asked with a malicious grin towards Ino.

"What story?" Ino asked curiously, after all Shikamaru was supposedly her best friend.

"It's not really important.. all hypothetical..." Shikamaru mumbled. Ino had already accused him recently of liking Asuma because he had woken up screaming and crying his name. It wasn't his fault he was still having nightmares.

"Tell me! If she knows I should know!" Ino scowled.

"It's honestly not a big deal." He sighed.

"I don't care!" She screeched earning the attention of several people around her.

"Fine.. Hypothetically we live in a world of ninja.. You're my teammate with Choji and I'm a male. Our parents were a team too. Temari is from another village and she saves my ass later and you guys always hated eachother. Hinata is on a team with Shino and Kiba. Voila... good enough?" He asked. Not wanting to recount everything again. Of course she freaked out at him so after a long half an hour she and Hinata now knew everything about what may or may not have been his reality.

"Wait.. so.. when you woke up crying that one time.. it was because of that..?" Ino asked, her voice a decent ammount softer and her eyes watering with concern. Some of it sounded believable.. to a point she was worried about her friend.

"You woke up crying? About Asuma?" Temari asked in confusion. She had obviously thought the entire thing was hypothetical.. before now.

"Ya... It's no big deal... so.. where do you guys want to go next?" He asked, trying to change the subject.

"Wait.. how hypothetical is this?" Temari asked, looking deadly serious.

"Hypothetical enough to make me look sane but real enough for me to be endlessly confused.." He sighed, why was he even bothering to explain?

"Wait.. so that means.." Ino started.

"It means on the first day of school I was asking those questions because I honestly didn't know the answer. I'm forgetting everything about this supposedly hypothetical story but it's not hypothetical. I took so long that day because I had to figure out how to put on a bra and I didn't want to ask for help. I was acting weird at school because I just came face to face with my dead sensei..." He explained leaving the girls in slight shock.

"S-so.. what is the l-last thing you r-remember? S-shikamaru-kun?" Hinata asked and Shikamaru couldn't help but smile slightly that she changed the name to suit him. It sounded familiar.

"Sakura, Ino, Choji, Naruto, and I were going to train. Sasuke and his team showed up to fight us. After hurting Naruto or something he went to fight me. I can't quite remember what happened but I remember red. I think it was his sharingan." He explained.

"And S-sharingan has g-genjutsu p-properties right? S-so what if you're c-caught in a genjutsu. If th-that's the case doesn't that mean that the Sasuke here is r-really the Sasuke f-from your world?" She asked. _She catches on quick._

"Can't we just kick his ass in here and you'll go back?" Temari asked, cracking her knuckles.

"No.. he controls it. Just like you aren't you.. if this is a genjutsu you are controlled by him. If I went to attack him he'd probably just change the genjutsu. I have no clue how to get out. The only way I know of is someone has to hit me from outside the genjutsu. But I doubt they'll realize." Shikamaru sighed.

"Then what can we do?" Ino asked. _So she's not self-centered now? Lovely.. _

"Nothing.. just live life.. by the way. Did you get Gai's email? He recorded our duet.. apparently we're singing in the mall today. You knew.. right?" He asked lookg at Temari. He had figured that's why she decided to come.

"WHAT? Are you fucking kidding me?" She screeched.

"Nope.. he didn't give us a song either. Said we could pick..Troublesome." Shikamaru sighed but looked on warily as Temari's look of horror quickly switched to an evil grin.

"Ever heard of mindless self indulgence? I say we make him regret this." She grinned.

"Uh.. yes.. and I think that's a bad idea." Shikamaru muttered. "We have to do three songs, by the way."

"Great.. Ok.. so let's start off with Defying gravity. Then sing I'm in love with a fairy tale. Then when we have almost everyone's attention I say we sing get it up." She grinned and Shikamaru sighed.

"Alright. I don't care anyway. Girls are too stereotyped."

"Great! When do we sing?" Temari grinned.

"In roughly an hour.. we're singing.. and I quote.. "In the fountain because it's youthful and beautiful! That's where the director requested! You can even wear these!"..." Shikamaru mimicked their insane teachers rambles.

"Wait.. wear what?" Temari looked horrified. She probably thought they were green but they actually looked decent. Shikamaru quickly produced two flowing dresses. One was dark purple while the other was a black.

"Th-they're pretty!" Hinata smiled.

"I call doing make up!" Ino grinned.

"Not mine.. do Shikamaru's. He probably doesn't know how." Temari grinned. Assuming he was telling the truth this would be awkward for him. The group made their way to the mall bathrooms, bags in tow. Quickly changing Temari came out wearing purple and they both did little twirls. Ino immediately pounced on Shikamaru while Temari just put on a bit of eyeliner.

"Troublesome.. woman.." Shikamaru scowled as she lined his eyes with black liquid and put on light mascara along with some light lip gloss adding a smokey eye shadow.

"Haha.. you look like a hooker!" Temari snorted.

"I th-think he uh.. she.. looks pretty..e-erm.. handsome.. uh.. I-i'm going to s-stop talking now." She stammered embarrassed.

"Just refer to me as a girl. I don't care and it's what I am here." Shikamaru sighed. Ino had taken a good half an hour with his make up and now they needed to go into the fountain and make sure their music was ready. When they got their there was a white bench under the rain of the fountain. A large speaker off to the side and a rather amused looking blond boy.

"Deidara!" Hinata grinned running over to give him a hug.

"Hi, Hina-chan. Un. You're here too?" Deidara asked.

"Yup, she came with us shopping. Can you do me a favor?" Temari asked walking over.

"What is it.." Deidara asked warily.

"The song selection, you're here with the music right? It's defying gravity, I'm in love with a fairy tale and get it up." Shikamaru asked. Earning a shocked but excited grin from Deidara.

"Got it, un! This is going to be awesome, un!" He grinned, quickly adjusting his equipment. The two girls stepped cautiously into the water, being careful not to slip as the water came up to their knees. Both sitting on the bench Ino giggled as they quickly her soaked. Their hair dropping down their shoulders. Several people looked at them in wonder as they sat there in silence until the music started.

The two sang, quickly attracting a crowd as they danced through the water. Shikamaru felt like a fool but the only one who knew he was a male was himself.. the others just trusted him or went along with it. When the song ended Temari was lying on the bench and Shikamaru was on his knees in the water. They were drenched anyway so it didn't matter.

The next song quickly started with the beautiful notes of a violin and Shikamaru grinned. He personally loved this song. The last song was mainly Temari so they had both agreed that Shikamaru would sing everything and they'd join on the chorus. Agreed meaning she threatened him because she was nervous.

"Years ago, when I was younger.. I kind of liked.. a girl I knew." He started. He decided not to change the lyrics for his current gender. "She was mine.. and we were sweethearts! That was then, but then it's true." She smiled, the current audience was mainly old people, girls or perverts. Not many guys their age unless they likes girls dancing in fountains.

"I'm in loooove, with a fairytale! Even though, it hurts. 'Cause I don't care, If I lose my mi-ind! I'm already cuuu-ursed!" They chorused, their voices echoed around them.

"Every day, we started fighting. Every night, we fell in love. No one else.. could make me sadder.. But no one else could lift me high above!" He sang getting lost in the music. The song itself honestly reminded him of Ino and Temari.. odd how that worked.

"I don't know, what I was doing! Suddenly..we fell apart.. Nowadays.. I cannot find her. But when I do, we'll get a brand new sta-art!" He sang, looking at Ino then at Temari as they sang together. His life was messed up. But he enjoyed this in someways, and at least when Naruto ever asked him he could honestly say he's seen more breasts than he ever will in his lifetime. Shikamaru smirked before doing the last chorus solo.

"She's a fairytale! Yeeeeah. Even though it hurts! 'Cause I don't care.. If I lose my mind! I'm already CUUUUUUUUUU-UUUUU-UUUUUUUURSED!" He sang, hitting the last note and letting it vibrate in his throat. Odd how he could sing such high notes here. Normally he was baritone.

"Alright! Thanks everyone for that. Now we'd like to welcome up two more singers who are going to be our wonderful back ups for this next song. We hope you enjoy it!" Temari grinned, pulling Ino and Hinata up.

"Just sing Chantal's part. We'll be Jimmy. Alright?" When they both nodded Temari gave the thumbs up to Deidara who started the music. The elderly in the area looked instantly confused and disgusted while their male population quickly increased.

"Gentlemen! Screwin' in moderation? Screwin' is such a bore. None of my time is wasted! I do that shit on tour!" Temari and Shikamaru both grinned. He admittedly loved this band too.

"Oh yeaaah." Ino and Hinata started earning a couple of cat calls. Hinata looked embarrassed as hell.

"Alright!" The two leads shouted out. Massive grins on their faces. Sure he was lazy but the reactions were definitely motivating him to put more energy into this. Even the teenage guys were shocked that two girls knew this song, nevermind were singing it.

"Oh yeaaah." The back ups ooh'd before the leads took over again.

"ALRIGHT!" They screamed. "I wanna make some babies! I wanna get it on! I wanna make you horny! But I can't get it up!" They sang both of them trying not to laugh. There was a mall guard dancing along with the music. _He's doing a great job, eh? _"I wanna make some money! But I don't want no job. I wanna make you horny! But I can't get it up." They continued.

"Get it up, get it up, get it up!" The two sang with Ino and Hinata singing "Why can't you get it up?" in the background. Poor Hinata looked like she was about ready to faint. Shikamaru was surprised she even knew the lyrics.

"It must be your face!" They grinned.

"Eww eww!" Ino sang. Hinata swayed slightly, moving her lips but no sound was coming out.

"Or it's your body. If it ain't your body then it must be your face!" The duo smirked looking at Tayuya. She had shown up incase the duo failed. They obviously weren't. They dance around as they sang, Temari even doing a pelvic thrust once when they sang "I wanna make some babies." Shikamaru chuckled inwardly as he sang. This definitely wasn't what Gai had expected. He wondered why he had agreed to it so easily. Probably because he knew it was fun and he knew this wasn't technically real.

_Who writes a song about erectile disfunction anyway? _Shikamaru looked over to Temari before starting the talking part. They had agreed to alternate lines so they both did some.

"Oh, Jesus!" Temari started with a faked moan. Shikamaru blushed slightly but continued the lyrics.

"I-I'd never had this problem before.. it's just a.." He stumbled.

"Hold on a second!" Temari sounded like this was honestly happening. She has skills.

"Give it a minute, give it a minute." Shikamaru rushed.

"Alright, just give it a minute!" She quickly followed, not missing a beat.

"Ah.. te-ugh.. do something sexy.." Shikamaru moaned slightly, focusing on trying to look annoyed.

"I don't care! Do something sexy!" She shouted.

"Just whatever you do don't talk about your fucking boyfriend while we're having sex! How about that?" The both chorused, ending off in an echoed scream earning quite a few cheers from the audience. They were quickly back to the chorus and dancing in synch. Shikamaru quickly learned what movements Temari made for each line so he simply copied them. When the song was over there where cheers and many parents uncovered their children's ears looking up at the duo warily.

"If you liked this performance then come see our play wicked at Konoha high! We will do future performances!" They both grinned, bowing before trudging out of the fountain and accepting towels from a hysterical Deidara.

_It's official.. I'm insane.. my gender is confused, I have no concept of reality, I'm doing crazy things and I'm using energy... I've gone nuts.. even when I don't have any.. troublesome.. _ Shikamaru inwardly growled, drying himself off before making his way home with Ino. The group split up after the performance and Ino was being really quiet. Shikamaru just wanted to go sleep. Which is exactly what he did when he got home.

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><p><strong>AN: I admit this chapter was pretty bad.. this isn't my best work and I apologize. I hope you like it. If not sorry.**


	7. Another Messed Up Day

**A/N: Thanks to the anonymous 'xxx' who let me know I still have readers :D I'm sorry it takes me so long to update but i'll try my best to improve that! It's just hard sometimes because I'm also constantly updating my other two stories :P (mirror and seeking solace). So ya, thanks for being patient with me :D**

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><p><strong>Shikamaru POV<strong>

Shikamaru sighed, rubbing his temples as his voice echoed scratchily through the gymnasium's low quality speakers along side Temari's. Apparently several people had decided to record their performance and post it on a site called "youtube". That, in this world, wasn't surprising. What surprised him, was the fact that Gai had found their performance "youthful" and was now showing all of his drama classes. Needless to say there was a wide variety of comments none of which Shikamaru particularily liked. Temari too was hiding her face but after a closer look he realized it was to hide the fact she was shaking with laughter. He just rolled his eyes.

"Such a wonderful display!" Gai sobbed, wiping his eyes of what appeared to be small waterfalls.

"Encore!" Kiba grinned from ear to ear, throwing an arm around both girls' shoulders. Temari looked about ready to bite his head off while Shikamaru hit his head against his knees.

"Good idea! Would you care to grace us with your beautiful voices? Miss Nara? Temari?" Gai smiled, his eyes twinkling as he spoke.

"And what should we sing?" Temari asked, tilting her head quizzically.

"Anything you'd like!" The thick-eyebrowed man exclaimed.

"Troublesome.." Shikamaru murmered under his breath.

"Can we have five minutes? It's drama right? We wanna do something!"

"Alright! Until then I want everyone to read over their dialogues." Gai smiled while Temari dragged Shikamaru out of the room into the drama supply closet. He looked around to see lots of costumes ranging from dragons and fursuits to dresses and props.

"So.. what's your idea oh brilliant one?" Temari asked leaving Shikamaru slightly baffled for a minute.

"I never suggested anything?" He asked.

"No, but you're the IQ genius. Think of something, I thought of the last one." she grinned. He sighed but put his hands into an all too familiar position, Temari was confused but said nothing.

"Can we talk other people in the class into helping? We could do a musical street battle. Using DJ Earworms mash ups." Shikamaru finally said after several moments of silence.

"Genius! Which one though? 2007, 2008, 2009 or Like, Omg Baby?" She asked, already rummaging through the clothing in the closet.

"We can figure that out when we know who all will help us." Shikamaru sighed.

"Okay." She grinned, dragging him back to the classroom and waving her hands.

"We've decided we want help in this performance. If you can sing at all and feel like participating follow us. That's if you're familiar with DJ Earworm." Temari grinned, ignoring Gai's adoring reaction as we rifled through his desk to grab his camera, no doubt already setting up a youtube account, or so she hoped. With in minutes they had a small group comprised of Matsuri, Kiba, Shikamaru, Hinata, Temari and two other boys they didn't know all too well.

"Plan switch.." Shikamaru grinned.

"What?" Matsuri asked, looking rather confused. Shikamaru said nothing, instead gesturing for them to follow him as he went back into the supply room throwing hats and baggy sweaters at everyone.

"If you're not wearing baggy jeans, switch to some. There should be boxers or pajama pants in here, wear them under the jeans and make sure they show. Hats should be at roughly a 45 degree angle." Shikamaru instructed.

"Say what..?" Kiba asked, already confused.

"Dress like you're a player, sag your jeans and twist your hat to the side." Shikamaru said, deadpan expression more than obvious.

"Oh.. gotcha!" He grinned, immediately stripping off his jeans for a baggier pair, much to the embarrassment of the girls in the room. Shikamaru didn't really care, instead he grabbed the needed supplies for himself, found a corner and changed. All of the girls in the group hid their pony tails in their hats or the hoods of their sweaters under Temari's command. She caught on quick, much to the liking of Shika.

"So what are we doing exactly?" The smaller boy of the two said, despite this his voice wasn't high pitched as Shikamaru had originally imagined upon seeing him.

"Singing, Pour some sugar on me." Shikamaru grinned. The guys paled slightly but laughed none the less. They quickly discussed what songs and who would do what so they wouldn't look stupid. The entire group got whistles when they went back in, looking sort of like a boys dance group.

"Love is like a bomb, baby, c'mon get it on , Livin' like a lover with a radar phone." Kiba immediately started grinning at the girls. Though Shikamaru saw him glance at Hinata several times.

"Lookin' like a tramp, like a video vamp, Demolition woman, can I be your man?" One of the boys followed up and the entire group echoed "your man." It sounded really cool, earning a couple of cheers.

"Razzle 'n' a dazzle 'n' a flash a little light. Television lover, baby, go all night!" Temari grinned tapping her foot in beat with the music.

"Sometime, anytime, sugar me sweet. Little miss-a-innocent sugar me." Matsuri smiled followed by a course of "yeah".

"T-take a bottle, shake it up." Hinata started feeling slightly nervous but the back up of the others on stage seemed to help. "Break the bubble! Break it up.!" She smiled.

"Pour some sugar on me, ooh, in the name of love." Kiba grinned, winking at a couple of the girls in the class as he "danced" with the music.

"Pour some sugar on me, c'mon fire me up!" Shikamaru couldn't help but grin. Part of him wished Konoha was a bit more like this. Sure they were all allies.. but he doubted he'd ever get to see something like this there.

"Pour your sugar on me, oh, I can't get enough!" The smaller boy sang earning a couple of whistles.

"I'm hot, sticky sweet from my head to my feet yeah." The all sang, a couple of them hiding grimaces as Gai attempted to dance along with them. Everyone had to admit it was pretty funny though. Shikamaru gave a little smirk for the camera filming in the back of the room before inviting everyone up for the second song. Even if they didn't know it they could dance. It was for fun after all.

"Gai sensei.. this is going on youtube isn't it.." Matsuri stated more than asked, groaning slightly when he nodded.

"Then hi youtube..ers.. this is love shack.. promoted by our insane teacher!" Temari grinned earning several laughs and snickers before Shikamaru turned on the music. A rather nerdy boy moved to the front of the group after talking with everyone, a small grin causing his nose to crinkle and tilt his over-sized glasses.

"If you see a faded sign by the side of the road that says.. 15 miles to the.." He sang, trailing off with a goofy grin.

"LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOVE SHACK!" The girls of the group sang, the ones with hats throwing them off so it was obvious who was of each gender. The guys immediately echoed them.

"I'm headin' down the Atlanta highway, lookin' for the love getaway." Matsuri sang grinning as she did the sprinkler.

"Heading for the love getaway, love getaway!" Another girl sang, everyone stiffled laughter as everyone broke into rather old and lame dance moves. It fit though.

"I got me a car, it's as big as a whale and we're headin' on down.." The same boy from the beginning sang, emphasizing the size of his car with his arms.

"To the Love Shack!" The girls sang.

"I got me a Chrysler, it seats about 20! So hurry up and bring your jukebox money." Kiba grinned finishing before Temari and Shikamaru took over.

"The Love Shack is a little old place where we can get together, Love Shack baby! Love Shack baay-beee." They sang in unison, grinning and acting like fools.

"Sign says.. Woo... stay away fools, 'cause love rules at the Lo-o-ove Shack!" The two boys from the original group harmonized. Shikamaru wondered if they were in choir because they were really good. _Does this school even have choir?_

"Well it's set way back in the middle of a field, Just a funky old shack and I gotta get back." Temari and Matsuri sang.

"Bang bang bang on the door baby!" Everyone sang, immitating the action of knocking on the door to the timing of the beat in the music. "Knock a little louder baby! Bang bang bang on the door baby!"

"I can't hear you!" A smaller girl with blonde braids shouted.

"Bang bang on the door baby, Bang bang on the door, Bang bang on the door baby." Everyone sang before it quieted slightly to just Temari and Shikamaru again.

"Bang bang.. You're what?"

"Tin roof! Rusted...!" Hinata sang loudly with a sly grin, which was slightly shocking but a small cheer erupted anyway as the class finished up it's final course.

Even after the song finished and the camera was turned off their was the hum of hushed talking as everyone packed up. Most people in this class had gym next, also with Gai so nobody was in any rush. They just had to keep up with Gai after all.

"That was awesome!" Temari grinned as she, Hinata and Shikamaru made their way into the halls.

"What was awesome?" Ino asked, sneaking up behind them.

"Oh nothing important." Temari taunted, laughing when she imagined a tic mark forming on Ino's forehead.

"W-we sang as a class and recorded it f-for youtube. It w-was a lot of fun." Hinata smiled. Ino's anger seemed to disappate a little bit but she was still upset. Whether ninjas or school girls Shikamaru could still tell when Ino was hiding something. She had been ever since they were at the water fountains. She seemed.. oddly protective of him, especially in regards of Temari.

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><p>"Shika... " Ino mumbled, quickly pulling her back pack over her shoulder as she waited for him to finish getting changed.<p>

"What?" He asked, sighing as he cracked his neck. Gym class with guy felt like military training or something.

"You picked me.. right..? Over Temari?" Ino asked, looking slightly vulnerable the way she was avoiding eye contact. Was this what was bothering her?

"What do you mean..?" He asked, trying to clarify.

"I mean.. if we're best friends here.. I have no doubt in my mind I'd love you somewhere else.. I just.. wanted to know you didn't leave me for her.. I.. nevermind." She whispered, swiftly disappearing from the room leaving Shikamaru, yet again, completely lost and alone. He thought she liked Sasuke.. Sai even..

_You picked me.. right..?_

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><p><strong>AN: I do have an end planned out for this.. and possibly a sequel but If i do the sequel I'm going to finish Seeking solace or mirror first so it's a long ways off :P Btw.. sorry it's short.. again. This is kind of a bit of a filler chapter. Nothing all that big besides the end.**

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><p><strong>akitty: <strong>Thanks :D I will never drop a story but I tend to focus on the story that is more fun to write :P I'll try to get some updates on this though :P thanks for the review.

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><p><strong>xxx: <strong>thank you :P Sorry it took me so long.


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